Wildsboro & Roberts Meadow Walk

Tour Guide:Date:Pre-registration:Suggested Donation:

John Clapp, author of the forthcoming book, The Lost Village of Roberts MeadowSaturday, October 15, 2016 | 1 to 3 pm | (Rain date: October 22, 2016)Pre-registration is required. Email lsanders@historicnorthampton.org to register$5 for members of Historic Northampton; $10 for non-members

Join John Clapp on a walk along “Mosquito Hollow Road” to view the cellar holes, stone walls and stone lined wells of former residents of Wildsboro, a long-forgotten neighborhood within the larger village of Roberts Meadow. Located in Northampton’s northwest corner, this once vibrant village existed on the Boston to Albany stagecoach line and between the early 1700s-1900s, it included a dozen homes, two taverns, several farms, a one-room school house, a large tannery, and two wool processing factories.

The outing will focus on the area known as “Wildsboro”, which was located along Marble Brook, a tributary to Roberts Meadow Brook. It will also include the “Widow Clapp’s house” and the site of the old fulling mill. If time permits, we will continue past the small reservoir and site of the old school house to the four corners to where the tannery and taverns were located.

Map of the Village of Roberts MeadowDrawn by John Clapp, 2016

John Clapp is a descendant of Perserved Clapp, who moved to Roberts Meadow in the early 1800s. His upcoming book The Lost Village of Roberts Meadow: Northampton’s Forgotten Settlement chronicles the people and industries of this forgotten village. He lives on his family’s original land holdings, with his wife and son, several llamas, peacocks and a variety of other farm animals.

Header Images (left to right):

Moody's Tavern, circa 1900. Courtesy of Forbes Library.

Site of Roberts Meadow toll, circa 1900. Courtesy of Forbes Library.

Ada Judd in a carriage at the intersection of Montague and Chesterfield Roads, circa 1900. Courtesy of John Clapp.